Teaming Up
by LelUCares
Summary: Kirikou, Ox, Kim and the others since the beginning of their grouping. Friendships will be shaped, alliances forged and old rivalries polished. In other words: how they all ended up like a good team before the battle for BREW.
1. Officially Stuck Together

**Teaming Up  
**

_The timeline is set between ch. 33 and ch. 34 from the manga and for me it last like two weeks or so, creating plenty of time to develop this whole story. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Kirikou Rung was starting to get bored. Since Professor Stein called all of his class to the school's secondary campus and separated them in smaller groups around the place, just to leave these teams all alone without any further ado than a quick "I want you all to achieve a team soul resonance", he and his new teammates were just hanging around.

He watched his group once again, analyzing its members all over again. He knew them all by name or so, but had never actually interacted seriously with them other than the normal courtesy.

There was little genius Ox Ford -the Spear meister- and his dry weapon Harvar D. Éclair, studying quietly under the shadow of a tree. And, on the other hand, was the money addict and Lamp meister Kim Diehl, chatting animatedly with her always-present partner Jacqueline O. Lantern Dupré.

Since the pink-haired girl bluntly rejected the bald mesiter's approach to talk with her, they all had been like that for a while now. Everyone just minding their own business. It started to tire Kirikou to no end so he decided to set a stop on it.

The boy stood up from his comfortable place on the floor next to the twins Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder and went over the rest of his _dear_ team. He walked over the others and made his presence known clearing his throat.

When he received the attention he needed, he nodded and said "C'mon you two, I need to talk to you privately. Let's go somewhere else," while he signaled the other two mesiters to follow him and started walking away.

Kim and Ox looked at each other puzzled. They gazed their respective partners who nodded in approval, so the pair went after the other boy.

When the Pot meister was sure that they were out of reach from their weapons, he stopped and turned over.

Nobody of the three meisters said nothing until the short patience of the only girl there grew thin. "Well? What do you want? Be quick and say whatever you wanna say that we're wasting money here doing nothing."

Ox looked over at his love interest and sighed, feeling the need to apologize to the other boy. Kirikou (on his part) didn't take any offense on the rudeness of the pink-haired girl, but instead nodded at her and said "That's exactly my point. What exactly are we doing here?"

"We're here because Profess-"

"No! Not that!" the Pot meister interrupted the bald boy. "I mean, here! In this moment! We're supposed to be achieving some silly thing, but all we have done since we were separated from the others has been slaking off. Not that I mind, but it's starting to get very lifeless here."

"Are you stating that I'm dull, punk?" Kim said defiantly.

"If the shoe fits…"

"What!"

"Guys, please stop!" Ox said as he stepped in the middle of the two hotheaded mesiters. "This is not the moment or the place to fight. We have to cooperate together and-"

But he was interrupted when Kim acidly asked "And what if we don't want to cooperate, hm baldy?"

As the genius was about to counter the Lamp meister with something, they all were silenced when a very distressed Maka Albarn went running towards their direction yelling "That idiot bastard!"

When the trio watched the crying girl furiously past them, a confused Kirikou just managed to mumbled a "What happened? Why'd she split from her group?"

Until Maka was out of sight, the Lighting King regained his composure, signaled the way the Scythe meister took and simply said "You can follow her example. I'm sorry Kim, my dear, but I'm with Kirikou-san in this one. We have to start working. Now."

"Woah, hold your horses Mr. Know-it-all, I never said anything about working! Just that I'm getting bored, that's it!"

"Heh, talking about complete slackers who can only score "fives" on their exams…"

"Why you, bratty midg-!"

"I SAID STOP!" yelled the bald boy. When the other two looked over him, he continued. "Okay, I see we're not getting along as well as I would like with one another, but we have to try! Professor Stein made us a team, we cannot just walk away." he said looking pleadingly at Kim. The girl just pouted at the remark but said nothing of it.

"I'm sorry…" mumbled the green-eyed to what the Pot meister agreed and offered his hand in return. The two shacked hands, and looked over the other boy expectantly.

When Ox saw that his words were starting to reach both of his thick-headed teammates, he said "Instead of fighting, what do you say if we make a deal?"

That picked the interest of both kids. Ox smiled inwardly. He had decided to use _the_ magic words to make sure there was going to be cooperation in the team from all three parties. "My fair lady, Kirikou-san, I offer you this..."

…

When they came back from their trip, the three mesiter expected to see their partners doing all but playing together. It had been a mild surprise to find the Demon Lamp playing tag with the Pots, using the unperturbed Harvar as base.

"Hey," said the African-American boy, gaining the attention of the Demon Weapons.

"Hm? Oh, Hi. Had fun?" answered Jacqueline, stopping on her tracks while the twins started chasing one another instead. Harvar (still under the tree and with book on hand) acknowledged the others with a simple gesture of his head.

Following the first third of their deal, Kim then asked "So… what are we supposed to do here?"

"A team soul resonance, if I remember correctly," answered Jackie. She received a pair of confused stares from her meister and Kirikou, but she shrugged off. She too didn't know how to do that.

"I remember reading about something like that… but I can't remember…" lamented the Spear wielder, glancing at the floor in defeat.

"A Team or Chain Resonance is when an unknown number of mesiters and weapons resonance together to maximize and empower one another," read Harvar without moving an inch. The other members (but the Pots) looked at him in awe as he continues. "It is a far more difficult and complex technique of the normal Soul Resonance, in which the more people take part in it, the powerful it gets… and the difficult to maintain rises too,"

"The Chain Resonance, to be successful, needs that all team members keep their souls on a balanced level. Besides, the kind of weapons used in the middle of the Chain Resonance also affects the percentage of probability. An example of this can be that a Team Resonance will be easier to obtain in a group with weapons of the same '_element' _than in other group in which they aren't."

"When did… why the… how the _hell_ did you know we would be dealing with that specific type of resonance?" questioned Jackie as she looked hard at Harvar.

The boy in question shrugged as he tucked his book under his arm, stood up and dryly answered "I didn't. It was pure luck."

"I suppose we can try, hm?" inquired the Lighting King with a confident smile.

Kim waved one arm dismissively. "You bet we can."

The boy with cornrows smashed his knuckles together and said "Let's go that I'm getting fired up!"

After stating that, Kirikou, Ox and Kim (with weapons on hands) gathered together in a triangular formation. They all closed their eyes and concentrated deeply, leaving their Soul Wavelengths expand and mix with the others.

The Spear mesiter felt a warm sensation that suddenly came all over him alongside a slight vibration that made his two pillars tremble a little. He recognized the feeling as his and Harvar's Soul Wavelengths blending together with his fair lady and her weapon's.

Frank Stein was watching his students from afar. When he felt better from his most recent Madness attack, he had decided to go and check Maka and team's advances when he found these others kids in the middle of creating a successful Chain Resonance.

He noticed that, when the conection between Kim and Ox's souls were more-or-less balanced and strong enough to expand, it started to reach and pull at the Pot meister's soul.

The teacher smiled satisfied at the feeling of a shakily but strong Chain Resonance suddenly come to life.

* * *

At the end of the day, Kirikou was sitting at the edge of the wall that separated the school's secondary campus with the rest of Death City.

Since the surprising appearance of Professor Stein stating that they had "passed" some kind of test and proclaimed them as an official group before wandering off again; he and the others were now taking a break to chill together. Following the second third part of the deal, they now had the rest of the day free.

He heard the soft giggles from the twins and eyed his small weapons. The African-American boy smiled warmly and was glad to see that the two were busy playing with Kim and Ox's partners again.

"Hm, and those two are…?" he asked himself while looking around the place for the other two mesiters. He then spotted the green-eyed girl counting all of Ox's pocket money before tucking it under her blouse as she smiled contently. All while the Lighting King watched sadly from afar, a small empty wallet on hands.

With that done, all the terms of their deal were finally done.

Yes, he thought to himself; it seemed like his new team was going to be a very interesting one.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater, their characters or locations; they're the properties of Atsushi Ohkubo. I just took them without permission for entertaining purposes.

* * *

_Hello! :) _

_New story, yeah!_

_Um… I don't feel like describing people this time. Sorry, but I feel very lazy today. Oh well. If you're wondering why Kirikou took Ox and Kim away from Fire, Thunder, Harvar and Jacqueline, it was because he didn't want to get an angry Demon Weapon over his throat. If you know what I mean._

_I hope you all liked this chapter. Review or leave a constructive criticism of the chapter if you like, that helps and cheers me up._

_Bis bald, alle!_


	2. Fired Up Hearts

**Teaming Up**

Next day, Kirikou's team went to class like the other approved teams. They didn't know who passed the test and who didn't so they were a little nervous to see how much of the original class remained. The seven entered the classroom cautiously, but they soon relaxed. There was no threat in sight, just the small bunch of remaining kids dispersed around the room.

"Man, good to see you Bla-Star!" said the Pot meister as he high-fived Black Star.

"Hiya Kirikou! Nice to see ya' here too. Obviously some real big men like us would be here!"

The two boys started chatting and joking loudly while their weapons greeted each other. Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, the Demon Shadow Weapon was happy to see the little Pots Fire and Thunder, and the kids were very happy to see her as well.

On the other hand, Ox and Kim just ignored the two meister and went to take a seat. Even after arriving five minutes late because of this and that, there was no signal of Professor Stein near.

'_Lucky us…'_ the four kids thougth. They didn't wanted to imagine what could have happened if the mad Professor had been in the room when they arived…

The bald meister was about to sit next to the pink-haired girl, but he was interrupted with Jackie taking the seat. He tried with the other side with Harvar in toe, but Kim suddenly raised her feet and put them in the seat. Clearly, the two girls sent a _"do not sit near here"_ message at the two boys.

He finally decided to sit a line behind the duo.

Black Star, Kirikou and their weapons went to sit together. Right in the bunch of empty seats that separated their respective teams if we want to be exact. It seemed that Patricia Thomson was about to join them, alongside Soul Eater, but they all were interrupted when the figure of an adult in a white stitched coat entered the classroom.

"It seems that we're complete now. Good."

Everybody watched Professor Stein intently as he made his way inside the classroom. He loosely walked directly towards his stitched chair.

The students were in silence and expecting the mad teacher to say something more, but they were met with more silence and the piercing glare of the meister as he sat comfortably in his chair. He took that moment to grab and light up a cigarette he had in one of the pockets on his coat.

The silence in the room reminded for some seconds, until…

"HELLOOO?" suddenly yelled Black Star. "You there?"

No response.

"Are we going to do something, or not?" he asked, not caring that everybody was watching him now. '_Better'_, he thought.

Again, the mad meister didn't bother to move. He smoked and watched them all intently. As if they were all laboratory specimens.

"Ugh! How annoying!" The assassin said as he stood on his desk, turned over and faced his rump over the teacher. All while making some noises like "HUEHUEHUEHUE!"

"Hey!" Maka spat while frowning. She was ready to Maka-chop the blue-haired boy.

"Black Star!" said Tsubaki very worried. "What are you doing?"

The ninja stopped his idiotic boasting to look over his companion. "This is SO stupid! I cannot show myself as the GREAT star I am if we just sit here all day doing nothing!"

Even if the other people in the class didn't approve Black Star's methods, they too were wondering what in the name of Death they were supposed to be doing at the moment.

"Hm, nothing in particular,"

Everybody turned to their teacher who just shrugged in his spot completely relaxed. "You can do whatever you feel like; talk with your teammates if you want. The only rules are that you aren't allowed to kill each other without a good reason or destroy any of the school's properties. Also," Stein looked coldly at the slackers known as Soul Eater, Kirikou and Black Star, who were already making their ways to the door. "You aren't dismissed from class until the ring says so."

"Aw c'mon! We're not even going to do _anything_ here!"

"This is not cool at all…"

"And how you're going to stop ME, old m-?"

A scalpel went flying straight at the face of the assessing boy, but got stuck at the wall, merely missing Black Star's right eye for some millimeters.

The three boys gulped hard while a small trickle of blood came from a shallow cut in the face of the blue-haired narcissist. All took their respective seat without any other objection, but then Kirikou excused himself to go to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Ox tried once again to get his fair lady's attention by sending her a small note. He watched happily as Harvar (with a disapproving look in face) threw it at Jacqueline's desk, grabbing her attention.

Said girl took the folded paper and examined it intently. The genius smiled widely as the brown-haired girl showed his love-note to Kim, but his hopes got badly crushed when his petite Goddess made a sour face, so the lamp girl crushed the note on her palm and proceeded to use her elemental power to burn the paper into ashes, opening her hand just to blow the remaining dust of the burned note between her fingers.

Harvar turned his head down in annoyance as Ox started whimpering on place. The Demon Spear could swear hearing the hearth of his meister crush in thousands of pieces.

In that moment the Lighting King stood up, bowed deeply and quickly said "I am terribly sorry, Pr-professor Stein, but it seems that y-you'll *sniff* have to excuse me f-for some minutes."

He ran out of the classroom.

"What's with him?" asked an oblivious Patty to her sister – Elizabeth Thompson – as the doors closed behind the bald boy.

The eldest Demon Twin Pistol just shrugged as she checked her pedicure. "Um… dunno… problems in paradise, maybe?

"Ooooh…. I see! Kyehahahahaha, he got dumped!"

* * *

**Shibusen Man Bathrooms. Left Wing.**

"No, no, no, NO!"

Ox was at the bathroom, in one of the sinks. He was splashing some cold water at his head furiously. "What the pickle was I thinking? Escaping classes like that…"

He watched his reflection on the large mirror and remembered the ashes in which his beloved noted got converted.

"Ugh!"

_Splash._

He started splashing more water at his face again, while thinking how miserable he felt when Kim rejected his feeling once again.

"Maybe I should leave my f- I mean, Kim alone…" he said as he closed the faucet and put his hands in both sides of the sink. "After all, she doesn't seem to try and evade people anymore…"

"Should I surrender?" He remembered the cold and hurt eyes the green-eyed girl used to have when she was still known as the Witch of the Girl's Dormitory. Compared to the cheerful girl she was now, there was a very huge change. Well, maybe not in the money part… but there still was a change in her persona.

The genius smiled sadly when he remembered her cold remarks at him every time he confessed his feeling for her. Maybe he should…

"No!" he said, raising both hands in the air. Even now, he could detect the small traces of insecurity and fear in those pure green-eyes of the Lamp meister. "I will continue with my quest! Until I prove her that I'm worthy and always for her! That's my duty," he put his hands down. "My final decision."

_PUM!_

A door being opened violently while a toilet was flushed sounded behind the bald meister. He then heard someone clapping.

"Way to go, Ox. I'm surely impressed," said Kirikou, stomping a little as he lazily emerged from the small bathroom cubicle. There was a piece of toilet paper stuck in one of his shoes. "That was a hell of self-pity and auto-recover discourses you had there."

"K-Kirikou-san?" asked the Lighting King a little stunned. "What are you…?"

"Who would believe that great Ox Ford doubted his feelings? That ain't possible!" the African-American put his hand on the shoulder of his teammate. "I believe in you, dude."

"Huh?"

"The girl, man." Kirikou smashed his knuckles together. "You've got what it takes to get her so, go for it! Never give up."

Ox felt his hopes rebuild again. "You seriously think so? Kirikou-sa—"

"It's Kirikou."

"Right, Kirikou."

Ox offered his hand and the two high-fived; they ended up face to face with the other.

"Chill man, I'll be supporting you in whatever way I can."

"Of course you will, man."

The two boys grinned and left the bathroom together. Not even a fierce inferno of blazing flames could be compared to the fire burning in their youthful hearths.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater, their characters or locations; they're the properties of Atsushi Ohkubo. I just took them without permission for entertaining purposes.

* * *

_Hiya!_

_Damn Ox, I felt like I got him a little OOC in some parts. Oops._

_Agh! This chapter was hell. I mean, when I wrote the first sketch last Monday, I ended throwing it away. With 800 hundred words already typed. So, I had to start looking for new ideas all over again. Luckily, today I had this silly dream that inspired half chapter (?). Yay!_

_Bis bald, alle!_


	3. Clashing! An Afterclass Encounter

**Teaming Up **

Harvar was very surprised to see Ox return so excited with Kirikou right behind some time after he ran away from classes. He himself was playing with the idea of going after his distressed meister when he went out, but with Professor Stein watching he decided not to risk anything.

Ox high-fived the Pot meister and the two boys parted ways towards their respective seats with huge smiles on face. Whatever happened between these two was beyond the Demon Spear boy, nor he desired to know anyway…

"Hey!" exclaimed the bald meister as he took his seat back. His good-mood was back.

"Hey,"

"Did I miss something important?"

"Professor Stein hasn't moved since Black Star's uproar," replied Harvar. "If you're worried about Professor Stein saying something about your abrupt exit, then no, he hadn't said anything."

The Lighting King got relieved at the statement and said "Whew… that's good to hear."

"You composed yourself rather quickly. How?"

Ox smiled inwardly. "Let's say I got a little help."

"Hm, is that so?" said the Demon Spear as he looked down at his female teammates, particularly at certain brunette. There was a glint over the reflection on his visor.

* * *

_(6 Hours Later)_

**Kill Kon Kan Kon~!**

"YAHOOOO!" yelled Black Star as he (alongside a crazed Patty and Kirikou) ran out of the classroom, leaving a big trail of dust behind them. Tsubaki sighed and took the Pot's arms and led them out. She decided to take them to Kirikou's apartment by herself now that their meister was probably out of the school aready. Liz on the other hand, yelled for her sister and went running after her.

Everybody who reminded (but Stein) sweatdropped at the sight of those kids leave so.. sudenly, but they soon followed their example of going out of the classroom.

"Let's go home, Harvar-kun," happily said Ox, oblivious of his partner's plan.

"I have some things to check on, Ox-kun," the Demon Spear said as he watched the two girls on the other line getting ready to leave. "Is it all right if we see each other at home?"

Ox was a little confused at first, but then he forgot his surprise as Kim went out of the classroom, leaving her weapon partner behind. He smiled at himself. "Of course, Harvar-kun. Bye!"

The bald meister didn't waste another second there and went to catch up with his pink-haired teammate.

Harvar sighed in exasperation, but decided to let his friend do whatever he wanted. He walked away from his spot. His direction: his remaining teammate.

"You annoyed my meister," Harvar said as he stood behind the other Demon Weapon. "What do you have to say?"

"Huh?" Jacqueline looked back from rearranging her notes and saw the Demon Spear looking at her coldly. "Oh, it's you."

"Answer me, could you?"

"Hm, more like broke no? For him to go like that…" Harvar didn't bulge at her joke. Jackie huffed and said "Look, Ox deserved it this time with him annoying MY meister first. He got a clear warning by us when he started crossing the line. Not my fault he didn't listen."

There was a deadly silence between the two. If stares could kill, they would be death since long ago, with their bodies cut into tiny pieces, canned in food cans and sold around the world's supermarkets.

"You close the room when you finish," said Professor Stein interrupting the tension between the two. Harvar nodded at him without taking his gaze from the Demon Lamp girl.

Before leaving the classroom, Stein watched the two Demon Weapons with curiosity and shrugged it off. He then left, leaving them alone in the room.

It was Jackie who finally broke eye contact. "Whatever. I need to go."

The brown-haired girl took her notes and started walking past Harvar. "Wait." He firmly grabbed her arm before she got away.

"Get off me, Harvar. I'm not in the mood to deal with your cool-guy complex anymore," she warned very serious; ready to turn her arm in the form of a lamp to burn the offending arm away.

He didn't show any sign of intimidation, but he did sent a small spark of electricity at the girl.

Zap!

"Ow! Hey!" the girl said as she managed to free her hand from his grip, left the notes on the seat again and started rubbing her arm. "What was that for?!"

"You were about to burn my hand and you cannot deny it," he stated matter-of-factly.

She stomped her foot on the floor hard. Harvar raised an eyebrow at the outburst. "I was but I didn't do it, you jerk!"

"Hmp,"

"Hmp? Don't "hmp" me!" she said. Harvar, for his part, remained silent.

"You are so… UGH!" she felt like she was about to explode. Literally. When she felt that her emotions were getting the best of her by the Demon Spear's provocations, she immediately started taking deep breaths to keep herself cool in a literal way.

When sure that she was under control again, Jackie said "Agh… all right then. If that's what you want then I'm sorry for burning Ox's paper, okay?"

"You should be," he answered with a smile. Getting the best of the quick-tempered girl had always been fun to him. Harvar shooed those thoughts away. He got more serious now. "Just know that next time you do something to injure Ox in any single way, I'm not going to be so easy on you… or your meister."

"Uh…" the girl was taken aback. After knowing the boy for some time, she was sure she heard a real treat in his statement and that confused her to no end. "My mei-? _What_ in the name of Death are you implying with that? Are you treating her?!"

"Just worry about your own meister and I worry about mine," answered coldly Harvar as he went out of the classroom, not acknowledging Kim who was outside of the room after escaping from a clingy Ox, on his way.

The green-eyed girl watched the Demon Spear go with a raised eyebrow before entering the room again. She wasn't expecting to see her weapon partner standing there with her fist clenched in a very angry expression. There was a burned mark on the floor under her feet.

"Woah, what's wrong? Did he tell you something bad?" asked Kim a little worried.

Jacqueline huffed while she took her notes and grabbed her meister's wrist, pulling the other girl with her outside with a little more force than needed.

"H-hey!" said Kim as she tried to stop her fumming friend on her tracks.

When Jackie felt Kim suddenly stop in the middle of the hallway, she turned at her friend who sported a worried face. That managed to calm her a little. She took another deep breath and, with an assuring smile, she said "It's nothing important. Let's go home, okay?"

…

Harvar encountered Ox when he exited the school. His meister was against one of the pillars of the eccentric place. When he got near of the bald boy, he turned over to watch him intently.

"What did you do, Harvar-kun?" the Lighting King asked curiously.

"I already told you Ox-kun: Things,"

The two started walking towards their house discussing about trivial things like the new discoveries around the Quantum spin liquid's magnetism and so on. When the two arrived to the door of their shared department, Ox decided to suddenly change topics.

"It's no good have problems with people, you know? And more If they're your friends," he said opening the door and entered the house.

"I know," was the answer of Harvar as he crossed the door too, closing it behind him.

* * *

Several hours later, at their room in the Girls Dormitory, Kim (already on her night-clothes) watched her friend a little annoyed. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, yes. I'm fine!" replied hurriedly Jackie. "Why you ask?" _'The nerve! Threatening Kim like that…'_ she thought remembering her encounter with the Demon Spear boy.

"Maybe because you've been like that since we arrived home?"

"Be more specific with "like that", if you don't mind," Jackie said as she started studying another book. She was sitting in their living room's couch surrounded by piles of different books. _'But I'm gonna show that tight-ass dork who's better protecting their meister than who!'_

Kim fidgeted on her place. "You know, murmuring to yourself, surrounded with all these books and stuff. Heck, you didn't even notice when I went out of the room, right?"

"Hm," said the weapon girl, clearly ignoring Kim. Said meister got fed up by then. She massaged her temples with one hand until an idea struck her. A devilish smile appeared on face as she got next to her friend's ear. She took a very long breath and…

"GET UP GIRL! IT'S 11 O'CLOCK ALREADY! DINNER WAS SERVED THREE HOURS AGO AND I'M NOT WARMING IT FOR YOU YET AGAIN YOU LAZY-ASS CHEESE GRATER!"

The response was immediate. And loud.

"ARRRGHHHH! My eaaaaar!" screeched Jacqueline as she fell down on the floor, grabbing her pained ear. All the while she scattered her pile of books everywhere. "Bloody hell…! I-I'm deaf! I'm **fucking** deaf!"

"Hump! Serves you right," Kim said very satisfied with herself as she went to sleep, ignoring the rich vocabulary on curses her friend was displaying at the moment.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater, their characters or locations; they're the properties of Atsushi Ohkubo. I just took them without permission for entertaining purposes.

* * *

_Hallöchen!_

_Here it is. A very fast update! :D_

_This was somewhat easier to write than last chapter. Mostly because I had lot of this idea (and the next one) already planned. Yup, you read well. Planned._

_I know that these Harvar and Jacqueline are nothing like the ones I put on the first chapter, but the circumstances there were far different. In my other work _Extra Lessons, chapter 5: Punishment_, I show a bit more about those two's rivalry so, if you are curious or confused about why they act like that with each other, you can go and check it if you feel like it. Although, it doesn't say that much there either...  
_

_That's all. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. :)_

_Bis bald, alle!_


	4. Child's Play

**Teaming Up **

Everybody went to classes the next day, hoping inwardly that whatever made Stein's decision about them doing nothing on their last class would change this time. They were very disappointed. Professor Stein was on time and in the very same spot he was yesterday watching all of his class. It seemed to be yet another wasted day for the Crescent Moon class.

"Oi, Professor, ain't gonna tell us why we're doing this or what?" asked Soul in a fresh way, attempting to get an explanation about the situation at least. The scientist didn't budge so the albino tried once again. "So? Having nothing to say at all?"

"I told you to close the room after you left," he said eyeing Harvar and Jacqueline. The Demon Lamp girl cringed at his emotionless gaze while the boy mumbled something like an apology. On the other hand, Soul felt more than annoyed seeing that he had been ignored so bluntly.

Almost all the other students ignored the "cool" tantrum Soul (along his usual gang of easy-excitable slackers) throw after.

While Kirikou was occupied in this petty revolt, Fire and Thunder sneak out of their seats and went over Ox and Harvar to pass their time. Unfortunately, the two nerdy boys were so struck reading a pair of thick books to notice the futile attempts of the twins to get their attention.

Just as Fire was about to set Ox's book on fire with his fire-breath out of frustration, Thunder tapped her brother's shoulder and signaled him the direction in which their other female partners stood. The little boy lost interest on their male companions, stuck his tongue out at them, and went over their two remaining teammates, all the while he left Thunder behind.

Kim and Jacqueline, on their part, were just as busy as the other two. This time it was with a Jackie taking notes from a pair books and a Kim playing Klondike Solitaire on her own.

Fire climbed up on the desk between the girls. Neither acknowledged his presence. At this, Fire started jumping on place, trying his hardest to earn a reaction from the pair, but nothing.

Thunder watched her brother from the floor with a disapproving face as he went as far as try to take one of Jackie's notes from her grasp. Note the keyword try, because he got stopped by the older girl's iron-like grasp on his tiny hand just before he got near her papers.

She released the boy in an automatic motion shortly after and continued scribbling notes and murmuring to herself, never sharing a glance nor giving any trace of having been consciously aware of Fire's presence at all.

A little unnerved, Fire turned at the pink-haired girl. But before he could even move an inch, the meister looked away from her game and locked sight with the boy. There was silence between the two until Kim spoke in a calm yet firm manner. "Don't."

Such a simple word was enough warning to make the little boy jump from the desk and hide behind her sister. Thunder then bowed deeply in an attempt to excuse her brother's actions and carried him away. Kim kept watching the two little Pots as they made their ways towards their original seats with a slightly bemused smirk.

"Okay, **that** was badass, you know?" she said as she went back to her game. A Queen of Hearts on hand. "You sure you don't wanna play? I feel in the mood for a good Mau Mau round."

"Hnn…"

Two hours had passed since the two little Demon Weapons arrived to their seats after their meeting with their teammates and Thunder felt like dying. Kirikou, Bla-star, the spooky cool boy and that crazy blonde girl had finally dropped their tantrum, but instead opted to go and hack around in one corner of the classroom, leaving the two young siblings without any means of amusement.

It felt like they had been doing nothing forever instead of hours, much to the twins' displeasure. The little girl scoffed at the sight of their lazy meister and turned to her surroundings, trying to find something interesting.

No such luck.

There were people sleeping, others playing videogames, reading or anything else to prevent boringness. Even Ox and Harvar were currently playing with a game of domino that appeared from who-knows-where; Kim was now reading a magazine while Jackie continued with her notes.

Thunder was about to resign and bump her head with the desk when an idea stuck her. She grinned and started to violently shake her drooling brother, effectively waking him up.

Before the boy could pout at this rude awakening, the gleam on the eyes of his sister stopped him. She signaled the whole classroom to what little Fire nodded a little curious, and then she made a boring-like face. The boy nodded again not very sure what Thunder was implying.

It wasn't until his sister started pointing at Kirikou, the bald weirdo, pineapple-face, funny girl and the crazy bubblegum girl, put her palms together and pointed at one of the discarded board games that Fire began to understand. He smirked at her idea, agreeing at the same thought that popped in Thunder's mind. It was scheming time.

* * *

**The Next Day**

The Demon Pots ran past a sulking Kirikou, entering the classroom with a speed that could make Black Star proud. Their meister just raised an eyebrow at this. Since they returned from school yesterday, the two kids had been unusually quiet as if something was bothering their little minds.

At first, the African-American boy suspected they got angry at him from leaving the two bored kids alone in class or something because they weren't so eager on going to their usual visit to the candy store at the end of school as usual. But, after recent events, it was as clear as water that a mere child tantrum didn't seem to be the real reason of their weird behavior at all.

In fact, that very morning at breakfast, when he was about to question the Demon Weapons, the two were back at their normal happy-go-lucky mood, handed him his backpack and even hurried him to go to school. It's no strange to say that _that_ really puzzled Kirikou.

"Whatever they're planning doing, I hope they just stay out of trouble," he said as he took a deep breath full of resignation at the fact that today was likely going to be another boring day while opening the door towards the classroom.

Meanwhile, the two little Demon Pots cautiously made their way inside the place, setting their plan on action. Thunder started looking around and managed to spot pineapple-head and pin-head just at the same time as Fire spotted the other two. It was good Kirikou usually arrives after them.

The two nodded to each other and silently went behind their unsuspecting targets. Kirikou watched them from afar with a quizzical face, but was taken from his mind when Black Star came up to him. He threw his backpack away and went with his blue-haired crazy friend.

Going back with the twins, they waited till the older kids got distracted and snatched something from their desk in a clean motion while they retreated as silently as they came. The two regrouped with the objects on tiny hands and went to dispose of the evidence of their crime in Kirikou's discarded bag, all the while they took a somewhat flat and rectangular object within.

They went to sit somewhere at the class with a good view around and patiently waited for the second part of their plan to get into motion, completely unaware at the unwavering gaze of Professor Stein at them.

… (5 minutes later) …

"Give it back you jerk!"

"What? Pardon, my fair lady, but I don't know what you're talking about,"

"What I'm talking about? Don't make me laugh! You're the only creep who would have the guts to steal from me!"

"What!"

Indeed, Fire and Thunder were eagerly watching the dispute of the rest of the team from their seats. The argument seemed to increase in volume that even made Stein look directly at the five. Kirikou, who had been acting as the mediator of this dispute when it started to begin, finally decided to intervene.

"All right, chill," said Kirikou stepping forward in the semi-circle the five of them created. "Let's just, you know, get our heads cool and all."

"How do you want me to keep my cool when this boy here stole my cards game!" replied an angry Kim, who was being restrained by her friend in an attempt to avoid the pink-haired assassinate Ox. Nobody messed with Kim's old deck of cards.

"Kim, stop it please..." replied Jackie.

"But I didn't! I swear! I even lost something too!" was Ox's response as he waved his hands over his chest defensively.

"Liar!"

Harvar put a hand in front of his friend as he calmly replied "It is true that Ox lost his portable chess game, but more importantly, do you have any proofs or something that it was indeed my meister who took your things?"

Kirikou groaned in exasperation. Their quarrel was driving him crazy! Just as he was about to step in front of the four yet again, he felt a small tug at his pants. He looked down at Fire who was signaling a thing in Thunder's hands. He accepted the object the tiny Demon Weapons handed him and turned at the others. "Instead of arguing, what if we just go and play this nice game o pass the time, huh?"

Ox stepped forward too. "But, our things—"

"Maybe you let them at home. I don't recall seeing neither of you with a game of chess, a set of cards nor some petty books when I first entered the room." Swiftly said Kirikou.

The others didn't seem convinced, though. "I clearly remember taking my copy of '_Unaussprechlichen Kulten_' at school with me today! It's not possible I could have imagined all that extra weight," replied Jacqueline, the others nodded at her. They were very sure they had brought those things with them.

"Look, we can always ask Professor Stein to give us a hand if that makes you feel more secure," That was effectively enough to cause the others around to look more appealed at his idea.

"Okay then, what's the drill with this… game of yours?" said finally Harvar, making his way towards a lone space in the class to start playing. The two little twins smiled at each other.

* * *

**Kirikou's Apartment**

The two kids came back very happy after school. They high-fived at the great success of their little plan and went directly towards the kitchen.

Kirikou came after the Pots with a bag in hand and closed the door. He chuckled as he followed his over-energetic companions. "Not bad, guys. That really come out nicely." He said frowning a little at his backpack. It felt slightly different, but then he shrugged it off as nothing.

The two kids smirked proudly at him. Kirikou laughed at their cockiness, took three packages of instant noodle soup and left a bowl of water to boil in the microwave.

"All right, we're having some good noodles for dinner today. Lemme just throw this thing out-of-the-way," he signaled his backpack "and then we can eat, okay?"

Fire and Thunder nodded as their meister went at his room. It had been a very nice day indeed. They played for most of the time before the alarm rang, enjoying themselves. Of course there had been some moments of friction between some of the players, but it was mostly uneventful.

The little Fire put his hands under his neck and his legs over the table very content with himself, but his sister couldn't help but think that they had forgotten to do something really important… then it hit her.

"FIRE, THUNDER!" echoed the voice of Kirikou, making Thunder flinch and Fire loose his balance and fell to the floor.

Seconds later, an angry Kirikou entered the kitchen with a chess table on hand and a dog-eared deck of cards in the other.

The twins looked at each other. The two shared the same sheepishly face; only one thought was in their little minds at the moment. Yep, it was time to run!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater, their characters or locations; they're the properties of Atsushi Ohkubo. I just took them without permission for entertaining purposes.

* * *

_Hi!_

_Whew, Fire and Thunder are surely very tricky to write, huh? Had to take my time developing their personal characteristic in a way that was either comfortable and canon-enough for me to work. Only thing I disliked was the lack of dialogue in this chapter. Anyway, till next update!_

_I took more time than what I first said. I'm sorry! I suppose the small extra length of this chapter will make it up for the wait. :(_

_Bis bald, alle!_


	5. SECT

**Teaming Up**

_After 5 years of following it, Soul Eater is really finished... hmm… even at 9 days since ch. 112 was published, the final is still kinda hard to swallow… argh! NOT, don't you dare to dissapoint me! Hump!  
_

* * *

The classroom was very empty indeed.

Since the day at the secondary campus, Stein's class shortened considerably. From the original forty students that were enrolled in the EAT Crescent class for that specific year, only twenty-six were sitting in the classroom as four were the only surviving teams that managed a successful Chain Resonance that day. There were two groups consisting on three meisters and three weapons, and other two of other three meisters and four weapons.

The mad scientist was not exactly happy having to relocate almost half of his class with the other lesser EAT classes, but what was done was done. He took other deep breath from his cigarette and leaned a bit more on his favorite stitched chair, eyeing the groups interact in front of him.

Since the last three classes he had just sat there, watching. He wanted to measure his little students before taking a new step ahead in their training, and by now Stein could finally say that he was almost done.

If the scarce intelligence the Shibusen CIA got was correct, then there was going to be an imminent clash between Shinigami-sama and Aracne Gorgon very, very soon in where both parties (Shinigami-sama's agents and Arachne's herd of minions) would ultimately fight. He needed those kids ready by yesterday.

_PFFFT! FRRRT!_

"Huh…? What the—!"

"Grr… PATTY!"

"Hyahahahaha!"

"Did you see their faces? Nyahahahaha!"

Stein sighed deeply. In one hand there was Maka's group doing a hilarious scene with Patty and Black Star pulling a childish whoopee cushion prank on the Scythe meister and Liz. The other members just watched from behind laughing or just rolled their eyes at them. That team had passed just as expected.

Although Stein would never say it out loud, he was not being seriously when he said that he was going to kick Maka out of his class the day his class got slimmer. He just wanted to motivate her to get out of her childish antics and get working. It was very obvious that they were default choices.

As for the other groups… well, the scientist was still thinking.

Two groups were all sitting together having a pleasant time co-existing with their other members. These groups were working very much synchronized, and even managed to create their Chain Resonance without much of a hustle. The problems itself was that, although they were all cooperative and somewhat efficient together, their weapon's hindering limitations and their scarce experience on the battlefield rendered them as an inadequate choice on grand-scale battles like the ones against Arachnophobia.

That was a small, little problem that gave the mad meister a headache. Shinigami-sama knew how much time Stein would need to prepare all those kids for war. Time he didn't have.

"Fire, Thunder!" yelled Kirikou at his running partners. A scowl was on his face with the memory of the twins' scheme from yesterday still present. "Where are you two going?"

And there was the _other_ group. That one was an enigma by itself, Stein thought.

Franken Stein watched puzzled at the other seven children. They were split with their usual mesiter/weapon partners and away from their other team members like before. He was not very sure how they managed to achieve that powerful Chain Resonance the first time with the little-to-none companionship as team they were all displaying. Even since that day at the secondary campus, he had seen more quarrels than team work between them all.

In fact, he suspected that it was the element compatibility (plus Kirikou's unique soul) the culprits that managed the connection between their souls persist that day, acting like some kind of super glue in the first place. The only ones that didn't gave that impression where the small Pot weapons, who were going back and forth between the other members trying to get their attention or satisfy their curiosity.

The scientist took another deep breath from his cigarette and exhaled the smoke out; all the while he turned his screw a few times to the right.

_Brip, brip, brip…_

_Click._

He knew what to do now.

"All right, everybody quiet now," Stein firmly said. Since the downsizing three days ago, he hadn't said nor done anything important until the bell to dismiss classes rang. Everybody but certain loud assassin immediately obeyed. "You too, Black Star."

After throwing the Star survivor another of his scalpels, successfully calming the boy, he stood from his chair and started writing in the board. He felt the curiosity of his kids rise. When he finished writing, he plumped back on his beloved chair.

Just as he did so, the questions began.

"Huh, professor?" asked Maka raising her hand. "What do you mean with '_Super Exhausting Cooperative Training_'?"

Everyone seemed to agree with her with confused faces or muttering between themselves. The teacher threw his cigarette away and smiled vilely. "You see, Miss Albarn, as the few capable ones to continue in my classes, you're expected to be able to swiftly engage in combat along all the members of your team making you more effective on battle," he saw most of the kids' faces show excitement and pride at this. However, he continued. "And that's exactly what you're still not capable of doing. So S.E.C.T, or just _sect_, is going to be an intensive battle simulator training for you all to gain the sufficient practice in the battlefield with a steady Chain Resonance on place…"

Stein keep explaining to his students how the mechanics of these new classes were going to be, how much time they were going to take and answered some of the questions the kids – Maka and Ox mostly – had. Everyone was paying attention to the Professor, all but certain African-American boy who was after his mischievous little partners.

"Fire, Thunder!" whispered Kirikou as he went crawling towards the children while concealing himself under the desks as Stein talked. "Come back here in this instant you two!"

The twins were currently seated next to Harvar and were content to invade the serious boy's personal space, clearly ignoring the calling of their meister. It was a wonder that all what the Demon Spear boy did was ignore the little kids' presence on him and continued to pay attention to Stein.

Kirikou continued crawling and crawling from between desks until he was three seats from Harvar. He smiled and crawled a bit more. Just as he was about to grab one of Fire's foot, he got interrupted.

"Mister Rung," called the silver-haired meister in a cold and authoritative voice, making the alluded shudder and paralyze in place. Kirikou held his breath and could swear his heart stopped too. "May I ask you why you are under the desks while I explain this new dynamic to the class?"

'_Holly mother of- how did he saw me?!'_ Thought frightened the Pot meister almost sweating bullets. "I'm sorry professor Stein. I'll pay more attention now," he as he stood up, bowed at the elder meister in respect and went to sit besides Ox, making sure to send his little Pot weapons a reprimanding glare before so. He also noted the light chuckle Kim let at his reprimand.

"You should be more careful, Kirikou," said the genius boy without letting his gaze wander from the mad scientist as the man shrugged and continued with his speech saying something about scoring their performances on the practices. "You're gonna get in serious trouble one of these days."

"Yeah, right?" he said with a grin, and then he turned a little more serious. "Look, you gotta talk with that girlfriend of yours," the Lighting King raised an eyebrow in confusion and slightly turned his head to face his friend. At this, the Pot meister continued. "We really need to work on our relationships as a team, or else we're going to be the worst team in class, and ain't no good man."

"Maybe we two can cooperate together well enough and be able to cover her unwillingness to work together and pass?" offered Ox in return, but just as Kirikou was about to reply, the two were interrupted by the sudden voice of their mad professor.

"Also," suddenly said Stein, making all the students look at him and shuddered. The Professor had a somewhat dangerous gleam on his eyes. "At the end of this special training I'm going to do a final exam. Whoever fails is going to be seriously punished and sent back to NOT level. Take in account that if only one member of the team fails or doesn't want to work, all the team is eliminated so be sure to work together. You're all dismissed."

At that moment Stein went out of the classroom while the kids stood up and almost all of them reunited with their respective teammates to worryingly (or excitedly like Black Star) talk about the new training they were going to do. Almost all of them I repeat.

Kirikou and Ox looked at each other immediately with worried looks, and then they turned their gaze at the retreating pink-haired girl (followed by her reading partner who almost crashes near a wall) warily. The two of them clearly knew that if their interactions as team continued like that, they were in very deep trouble.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater, their characters or locations; they're the properties of Atsushi Ohkubo. I just took them without permission for entertaining purposes.

* * *

_Hiya!_

_Update, yay! (School is horrible now, sorry for the lateness!)._

_Totally wasn't expecting to turn the plot like this, but its okay. Let's see to where I can go with this._

_So... you liked this chapter or not? I despiste asking for reviews, but this time I would really apreciate (more like love) feedback in this one because I'm not really sure what I'm going to do or to where I'm really going with this new plot twist without getting a headache or plain boring ideas... besides, I just _feel_ this chapter **needs** something!  
_

_Oh, well… you remember I said some chapters back that I had discarded a draft before writing that chapter? This is the draft. Obviously adapted and enlarged, but the idea is somewhat the same. Funny, right? Pardon my grammatic errors, but I wanted to finish this as fast as my fingers could type._

_Bis bald, alle!_


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